Members on Mysticism

Beliefnet members share their experiences of transformation and discovery

"I was a log in a pew until 8 yrs ago, when a mystic life started. After 9 months, I surrendered it, and it stopped. My life had changed, though. The result, metinoia, is the transformation." --im4M

"I too have found that it doesn't seem to be something most people understand. I wanted my friends to know that there was so much more than I had ever dreamed. A way to a deeper and sweeter connection with God - but my words were met with skepticism, disbelief and ignorance (altho I don't blame them in the least as I'm not sure I would have believed it myself had I not felt it)."--suz

"But it's not all "I'm OK, You're OK"...the "goal" of mysticism is not to look at ourselves, but to look at God!"--Sparrowhawk

"The advisor part of this walk is where my faith is low. Because of my background I do not run in the circles where mysticism is even spoken of, and when I bring it up I always get the same response: "Is that some new age religion?" I usually just say that it is a form of meditation, knowing it is much more then that. I do feel that I need an advisor, coach, or something to keep me on this narrow path." --kmcneil

"My definition of a mystic is someone who loves life and is sure that life loves them back." --thealpha2

Mystics are comfortable with not fully understanding; whereas theologians are not satisfied unless they can understand. Mystics are more interested in feeling and experience than in understanding. If you tend to feel connectedness to God more through the abstract than the concrete, and more through feeling than intellect, you are probably a mystic. If you prefer prayer groups to Bible studies, you may be a mystic. If you like simplicity and silence in worship, you are probably a mystic. If you find strength in emptying your mind of distractions and simply BEing in the presence of the Holy, then you are probably a mystic.

One common experience of mystic Christians is a sense of being out of place. Most Christian congregations, particularly Protestant ones, place more value on intellect than on feeling, and on the concrete what-you-can-see-and-understand than on mystery (that which cannot be understood). Most congregations are in quadrant 1 of the diagram I drew. Mystics often must search outside their congregation for ways to satisfy their spirituality.Episcopalian